Show IH: Sick Day Box - Everything you need to survive a sick day in one kit.
Hey Indie Hackers!
Today we're launching Sick Day Box on Product Hunt and I wanted to explain a bit about the thought process, design and build out.
Idea
My girlfriend came up with the idea as she was finishing her Master's in Counseling. We had a few sick days at the house where one of us wasn't around to help the other out. To compensate for those days, she put together a kit with everything we'd need, from ginger ale to saltines and chicken noodle soup and the first sick day box was made.
Design
Originally we went with a Shopify theme, but it was really limited in options. Paid Shopify themes are incredibly expensive for some reason, so we decided to hit up a freelancer I've worked with in the past and he put together a quick landing page. We found a product designer located in NY on Upwork who was able to help us with the box design and logo, then we used Packlane to create the initial boxes. The inserts were created with Moo and the stickers were made with Sticker Mule.
Execution
We took the sketch file from the designer and exported individual elements that were then uploaded and placed in Carrd. We used the Shopify Buy Button to create the checkout process and utilize Shopify's order management. A few lines of CSS and some tracking tags later and we were ready to go live!
So far, ahead of the Product Hunt post, we've had over 15K visitors, mostly from organic buzz. Let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to answer them!
How do you get the box in time? By the time it ships, you will have recovered potentially?
Hey Josh,
That's a great point. This is really more of a preemptive item you would purchase ahead of being sick. Most people get the cold or a bug once a year, so this is more along the lines of just being well-prepared.
After our PH launch yesterday we actually had a few people buy multiple boxes for other people. In fact, the majority of our billing / shipping addresses differ, so we think many of these are being purchased as gifts. Our plan is to try and cater to that in the next iteration with a quantity selector and an option for a gift message.
I really think you should add Zinc, that would tremendously boost the product quality imo and your credibility with me – Zinc has been a game changer. The rest of the items look good, though I'm not sure about the Ginger Ale or the price point.
Nice work, the site's looking good. Seems like you managed to pull together an idea without wasting any time!
This took longer than it looks! We had to switch platforms because Shopify's theme management is a pain and we also went through a few iterations of the box. Plus we had to design / purchase custom stickers, box inserts and then, of course, the box itself. Glad it looks good on your end though! 🙂